FOOTBALL hooligan Jeff Marsh has been banned from football grounds for five years after admitting affray.The self-proclaimed hooligan, who has written two books about his exploits with the city’s infamous Soul Crew and is one of the organisers of the Welsh Defence League, was fighting with Celtic fans after the inaugural match between the teams at Cardiff’s new stadium.
Marsh, from Barry, admitted affray and possession of an offensive weapon at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court in January and was sentenced yesterday.
He was given a four-month suspended jail term, 150 hours’ community service and ordered to pay £600 costs.
He was given a full five-year football banning order that will prevent him attending any football matches for five years.
Detective Constable Simon Chivers, of the Football Intelligence Unit, who arrested Marsh last summer, said: “Jeff Marsh is a convicted football hooligan.
“Behaviour such as he exhibited on the night will not be tolerated by Cardiff City or the police and anyone indulging in that sort of behaviour will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law, prosecuted and banned.”
It is Marsh’s first football banning order as his previous convictions for football violence came before the 1990 Football Disorder Act which introduced the banning orders.
In 1989 he was convicted of grievous bodily harm for stabbing two Manchester United supporters in Cardiff and was jailed for two years. In 1986 he was also convicted of a football-related assault in Halifax.
Marsh is an organiser of the English and Welsh Defence Leagues which describe themselves as “a ready-made army” against Muslim fundamentalists.
There have been riots and arrests in English cities, including Birmingham and Luton, which have led to scores of arrests after the group has clashed with anti-fascist campaigners. There have also been marches in Wrexham and Swansea.
The groups have been described as “divisive” and “hate-based” by Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood.
Wales Online
